Brokerages Set Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) Target Price at $182.13

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $180.21.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MPC. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $183.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Marathon Petroleum from $160.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th.

Insider Activity

In other Marathon Petroleum news, Director Evan Bayh acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $133.70 per share, with a total value of $133,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 69,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,078.50. This trade represents a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ricky D. Hessling bought 2,000 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $134.72 per share, for a total transaction of $269,440.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 12,162 shares in the company, valued at $1,638,464.64. The trade was a 19.68 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPC. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 78.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,961,503 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,389,630,000 after acquiring an additional 4,367,774 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Marathon Petroleum by 16,338.3% in the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,177,133 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $582,710,000 after purchasing an additional 4,151,722 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $453,427,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,436,704 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $480,501,000 after purchasing an additional 935,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,552,655 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $495,595,000 after buying an additional 647,045 shares during the period. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $148.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.77. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $130.54 and a 1-year high of $221.11. The firm has a market cap of $46.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.39.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.71. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

About Marathon Petroleum

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated downstream energy company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Refining & Marketing, and Midstream segments. The Refining & Marketing segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks at its refineries in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions of the United States; and purchases refined products and ethanol for resale and distributes refined products, including renewable diesel, through transportation, storage, distribution, and marketing services.